Australian spin legend Shane Warne will make his return from a short-lived retirement after signing for the full season with the Melbourne Stars in Australia's revamped Big Bash League Twenty20 tournament.

The leg-spinner's first game will be against the Sydney Thunder at the MCG on December 17.

The 42-year-old Warne had retired from top-class cricket in May after the Rajasthan Royals' last game of the 2011 Indian Premier League. He played his last Test for Australia in 2007, finishing with a then-world record 708 Test wickets.

Warne, who will combine his playing commitments with the Stars with his role as a television commentator, said the Big Bash could be played alongside this summer's Test series against India without being detrimental to either format of the game.

"I don't see a conflict in that at all," he said.

Warne said one of his main reasons for making a comeback was so that his three children, now aged 14, 12 and 10, would get a better appreciation of what he did for a living.

And it was "an added bonus" that his partner, British actress Liz Hurley, would get to see him play at the MCG.

Warne has not ruled out extending his contract with the Stars beyond one season if everything went well in the 2011-12 campaign.

"I'm a young 42 at the moment, so I'll see how it goes this year," he said. "This is something fresh, this is something new and we're all learning straight away. Let's see how it goes this year and we'll take it from there."